News

26 Feb: Lifestyle Medicine Event at LKCMedicine   26 Feb: Lifestyle Medicine Event at LKCMedicine   Hosted by Assistant Prof Lee Eng Sing and Dr Emina Obarcanin from LKCMedicine, Primary Care and Family Medicine and the Singaporean Society of Lifestyle Medicine our recent Lifestyle Medicine event was a great success. The highlight was the session by Prof. Luigi Fontana, MD, PhD, FRACP from University of Sydney, whose insights into lifestyle medicine left attendees motivated to integrate healthier practices into both their personal and professional lives. 

The vibrant Ong Tiong Tat & Irene Tan Liang Kheng Auditorium was filled with hundreds of health professionals, scientists, corporate leaders, policymakers, and patients—each united by a shared passion for lifestyle medicine and healthy aging. The lecture by Prof Fontana was followed by engaged and in-depth Q&A session and lively discussions. 

Following an insightful introduction by Asst Prof Lee Eng Sing, who provided a comprehensive overview of the local incidence of chronic diseases and the rising concern of multimorbidity in Singapore, Prof Fontana presented groundbreaking research on metabolism, nutrition, exercise, calorie restriction, fasting, the gut microbiome, mental health, insulin resistance, and cardiometabolic risks. His session was a true masterclass in understanding the science behind lifestyle medicine. 

The event was not just about learning but also about experiencing the healthy diet in practice. Participants enjoyed a spread of healthy, delicious foods, demonstrating that the food offered can be both healthy and enjoyable—even in social settings. The lecture by Luigi Fontana was a wonderful opportunity for learning, connection and networking.  

6 Feb: Introduction to Primary Care Cancer Advisory Group

The Primary Care Cancer Patient Advisory Group recently held its first meeting. Led by Associate Professor Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis, the group comprises 10 cancer survivors who will take on the role of advisors, co-researchers, reviewers, facilitators, and decision-makers to shape study protocols, education projects, and patient engagement in primary care cancer research relating to cancer screening and early detection.  

Year End Activity 18 Dec @ Holland Village

PCFM closed 2024 with an unforgettable team bonding activity, diving into a thrilling quest that was filled with solving puzzles, uncovering local treasures and learning about local history in Holland Village . We started the morning with a year-end reflection, sharing about experiences from the past year, how individual contributions made a significant impact and reminding on the power of teamwork.  The experiences we had will no doubt strengthen our collaboration and teamwork for an even more successful year ahead.

Singapore Health and Biomedical Congress 2024: Adding 15 million years of health life

SHBC was held on 10-11 October this year with PCFM making a number of contributions, including Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis as a panellist in the Adding Life to Years by Integrating Health and Social Care plenary, the SPARK booth promoting primary care research opportunities, our Visiting Professor Jon Emery presenting on the application of polygenic risk scores to tailor cancer screening in primary care and Lee Eng Sing presenting a poster on primary care research recruitment. Primary care research and translation also shone with presentations from many of our NHGP colleagues including Sabrina Wong, Tang Wern Ee, Ben Lam and award winners Quek Jing Sheng, Ng Xinyao, Sze Kai Ping, Koh Jan Ming Ian, Chen Tongyuan and Julia Zhu Xiaoli.

On 12th of October the Primary Care Academy GP Symposium was hosted at LKCMedicine and was dedicated to advancing primary care practices in line with Healthier SG initiatives. The Primary Care Family Medicine Research Programme shared about SPARK (Singapore Primary Care Research and Knowledge) Network in a booth at the event. The event "Continuum of Care: Paving Pathways for a Healthier Community" had approximately 150 attendees. 

Visiting Professor, Jon Emery 

7-9 Oct: University of Melbourne Professor of Primary Care Cancer and LKCMedicine Visiting Professor Jon Emery provided important insights into cancer screening and risk stratification during his visit. He presented on this topic at SHBC 2024. Prof Emery will continue to assist with the development of LKCMedicine’s cancer prevention and early cancer detection programme.

Project Soundkeeper Official Launch

16 Oct:  The SoundKeepers Programme was officially launched with a media event.  Soundkeepers is a three-year research study to develop an AI tool using voice biomarkers to detect early signs of depression (subsyndromal depression) in seniors and a community intervention programme to manage the condition outside healthcare settings. The study is led by LKCMedicine Primary Care Family Medicine Research Programme in collaboration with six partners: College of Computing and Data Science (CCDS) from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, National Healthcare Group Polyclinics and Institute of Mental Health, Fei Yue Community Services, Club HEAL and Lien Foundation. Click here for article. 

Art and Science of Medicine Festival 2024

19 Oct: LKCMedicine held its second Art & Science of Medicine Festival at Kampung Admiralty with the theme of “Connecting Medicine, Health & Life.” PCFM collaborated with OPEN, the Office for Patient Engagement, to engage the community and explore what would make it easier for Singaporeans to engage in cancer screening programmes. These insights will shape our developing Primary Care Cancer research theme.   

World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) 21-24 Aug 2024

Past, present and future: The important role of practice-based research network in generating and facilitating research

Type: Oral Presentation
Presentation Author: Associate Professor Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis 

Introducing Riley” Your Personalized Evidence-Based Medicine Information Literacy Chatbot

Type: Workshop
Presenting Author: Asst Prof Lee Eng Sing and Ms Rebecca Lavanie David, Senior Medical Librarian, LKCMedicine 

Engaging General Practitioners in Primary Care Research in Singapore: Lessons Learnt from the HOPE CVD-GP Research Project

Type: Poster Presentation
Presenting Author: Ms Sam Xin Hui, Research Fellow, LKCMedicine 

Click here:  (164) WONCA-APR-2024-PPT-ePoster 23-Aug-24

Understanding Singapore Health Professionals’ Career Planning and Development Behaviours 

Type: Poster Presentation
Presenting Author: Ms Sam Xin Hui, Research Fellow, LKCMedicine 

Click here: WONCA-APR-2024-PPT-ePoster_WDARF Study_v1.2_2024-08-20

April – May 2024

Primary Care OPEN Patient and Public Engagement 

PCFM hosted Visiting Professor, Sir Aziz Sheikh 

PCFM hosted Visiting Professor, Sir Aziz Sheikh 

17 May 2024: LKCMed and NHGP hosted the management team of AstraZeneca Asia on 17 May. The team visited Kallang Polyclinic (hosted by Dr Valerie Teo) to understand the patient journey and how team-based care work in the polyclinic setting.  The team were then reintroduced to the research work on National Precision Medicine and SG100K (Prof John Chambers), Hepatobiliary-Gut Dysfunction Research Programme (A/Prof Yusuf Ali), Primary Care Research Network (A/Prof Jo-Anne Manski Nankervis), Office of patient engagement (Ms Ai Ling Sim-Devadas) and current collaborations e.g., COPD prevalence and home spirometry study and multimorbidity education seminar.